Saturday, 22 April 2017

Hi there, it's Ella!

Today I am here with a little review, just a short one, but there will be more posts coming up up next week. I am sorry I didn't manage to post more than once a week, I hope I will be able to improve.
Let me talk about We Are Okay by Nina Lacour. (Goodreads)

I actually bought this book because of the cover and luckily, I ended up liking it very much.The story tells of Marin, who is spending winter break alone at the dorms of her university, waiting for her best friend Mabel to come. Mabel, who she hasn't talked to, like she hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. She never revealed what happened after her Grandfather, whom she lived with, died. What happened after she ran away. What happened in all those months since then, how she still felt the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. How everything she felt was loneliness.

"I could say the night felt magical, but that would be embellishment. That would be romanticization. What it actually felt like was life."

This is one of those books which are about the atmosphere, the feeling rather than the plot.Marin doesn't just tell you how she feels, Nina LaCour makes you feel it.Of course, there was a story, but is was a slowly told.And I liked how it was going slow on revealing the truth, just the way Marin revealed the truth to Mabel.I liked how their relationship was portrayed. How homo- /bisexuality was just a normal and natural part of the story, but not a main part.I liked how poetic it was. Not over the top, intended but not just wanted and placed.This book just gave me a certain feeling. We are okay was heartbreaking in the best way possible. I loved it. I loved how it made me suffer aside with Marin and how it healed both of us in the end.

Thought it had only 234 pages, it took me a few days (mainly because I wasn't reading this much), but I really enjoyed taking myself time for it.

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper (German edition) - London 1665, a young girl coming to town awaiting a big adventure, falling in love but finds herself in a city more and more captured by the plague. I considered this my favourite book for years.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - The first English book I read out of English class. Despite it only being a three star read for me, I still would like to reread it now, because I am pretty sure I would enjoy it a bit more, since I will most likely understand more due to my improved English knowledge. (But it would still be three stars. I read it in German afterwards and thought the same)

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver - Two sisters, inseparable until an accident leaves them totally estranged. One sister vanishes, another girl two, which leaves the remaining one trying to find her. This was my favourite English read since then and I was completely blown away by this book. I am really interested how I will see and think about it while rereading, having the big reveal in the back of my head meanwhile.

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black (German edition) - Give me a ballet read and I will be all in. Add mystery and demons and I am all over it.

Russian Winter by Daphne Kolotay (German edition) - I bought this because, guess what, it's a ballet story. Except, it isn't. Like yes, this is about a ballerina, but that's not the main aspect. It's about her story. It's about personal drama. It includes a lot of political issues. I liked it back then, but I think, I did not really understood it. I am a few years older know and I think, now I will.

Oxigenien by Klara Feher (German edition) - Unfortunately also only published in German and Hungarian this time. It's a science fiction novel about this man from earth who lands on a planet, where the poor people have to work to earn their everyday oxygen (that's why it's called Oxygenia), while the rich ones, well, live in fortune. The story tells how he tries to escape.

Learn to scream by Beate Hanika - I think this is a really important read. I already read it a few times and I just want to do it again.

The Girl With Nine Wigs by Sophie van der Stap - the story of a young woman coping with cancer and fighting her way back into life.

Afterwards, I thought of two more books I really, really liked and want to include on this list, tough I haven't taken photos of them:

Revived by Cat Patrick - an interesting science fiction (I would say?) novel about a girl taking place in a government program testing a drug that can revive.

Saturday, 8 April 2017

I read the two books of the Diviners series and I was all over for them. So of course, I wanted to read more of Libba Bray.

Unfortunately, I have to say, I did not really enjoy these books. They are beautifully written and I really like Gemma as a character, but wasn't able to really click with the story. Mainly, because I considered it really really predictable.

So I decided not to read the last book.

Maybe I will do some day, but I don't feel enough compassion for the story right now.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

✭✭✭✭✩

This was a really quick and fun read. I enjoyed the characters and the "geekiness" of the story. Very cool.

Paper Hearts #1 by Beth Revis

✭✭✭✩✩

This was just a nice collection of some writing advice by the author of the Across the Universe triology, nothing to special but enjoyable. I like how she said, that you don't have to constantly write and push through the story if you don't feel like it and how encouraging it was to hear, that she wrote a bunch of stories before Across the Universe, which weren't good enough then, but how she got better and better with every one.

I already read this one in German and practically in English but as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Well,... It took my a while to get into this, but it really got better and I could really enjoy it at the end.

I think it's quite hard to read classics in another language and maybe I will prefer reading them in German, since this is my mother tongue.

But because I read it in German before, I can say I truly enjoy this story anyways.

Supergods by Grant Morrisson

✭✭✩✩✩

At first, I thought it would be a nice, informative and light read, but it turned out I really had to push through this.

At the beginning, it told about the first superhero comics came to life and included a lot of historical background. This was what I wanted: a general overview of the development. But the more it went on, there suddenly were a bunch of superheroes, not well explained and I really lost track. There also was a lot of analysing of random issues or scenes, which I did not consider necessary. Though I liked the psychological point of view, this was a bit too much. I was happy when I was done.

This wasn't a usual guidebook, but looked at the countrys culture, politics and its people habits. I liked how it gave this insight on the living, rather than on the touristy aspects.

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

✭✭✭✭✭

I read this years ago as a copy from my library and liked it so much, I bought one for myself. It's a mystical story about a witch who can bring beautiful woman out of seals. It's weird, a bit dark and definitely a story I never read something alike.

If you're into fairy tales, stories of fishing villages and a hint of dark, twisted myths, go with this!

So far for my wrap-up.

I won't to an extra post on my tbr because *drum roll* I have only two books left on it! I am right now reading Red Queen with about 100 pages left. The other one is Everyday Tidying. It's a small book with everyday advice, quotes and storing hacks for tidying and decluttering. I will go through it which will take about half an hours and set some page flags.

And then, my dream will come true: I will go to the bookstore or my supermarket, pick a random book (or two) which sounds good and read it read it right away. Boom.

Thursday, 6 April 2017

First of all I'm beyond sorry for being absent the past weeks. In my last blogpost about my reading slump I already told you that something is up. Not much has changed.

The good thing is that I finished my term paper and handed it in. Nonetheless, I still have to study for my exam, go to my lectures and work through my text books. I don't want to complain at all. I'm happy with what I'm doing and enjoying my life as an university student.

My reading slump is still bugging me. It's definitely not that I don't want to read, I just don't find enough "me-time" at the moment.
That's where everything goes downward. Because I barely read I feel like I have nothing to blog about. I also don't want to post some random stuff just so that there is some blogpost from me.
Additionally, I feel like all my creativity and motivation to take pictures is gone.

That's why I came to the conclusion that taking a break from blogging is probably the best idea. I'm apologizing for that.

Nonetheless, I'm convinced that my lovely friend and co-blogger Ella will do a great job.

Sunday, 2 April 2017

Overall:

And there's another month gone. Time really runs!
But that means, it's time for another monthly post too!
I have to admit though, I wasn't really productive.
I've read eight books so far, which is okay, but minding that I've got holidays...
I always feel pretty lazy in those time and I am looking forward to having something to do.
But I still had a great time.

Well, whatsoever. Just read on.

Favourites:

I went on a spontaneous trip to the sea with my grandparents.

During that trip, I read "Written on My Heart" - it was awesome. I've posted a review last week.

I went to the Leipziger book fair and cosplayed on Friday and Saturday. It was so much fun! Walking around, doing a photoshoot with my friend, but the whole process of preparing too! And I bought some nice stuff (like this adorable Chichi figurine) - but no books except a graphic novel - lucky for my tbr!

The first warm days of spring ^^

Looking Forward:

My Danish course hasn't started yet, because the teacher was ill, but tomorrow, finally, it will!

Also, I am really exited for the new semester, which makes me even more happy, because this shows me, I made the right decision for my study subject.

I am looking forward for spring, summer and warm days, spending time with my friends and making new experiences.

And last but not least: My tbr is pretty empty except "The Brides of Rollrock Island" (which I already read some years ago) and "Red Queen" (which I am now finally ready for, because I now have capacities for the sequels too).

I also want to inform you, that Lena will take a break from blogging. I hope she'll be able to be able to write a little post on this, but as you may think, it is because she is in a reading (and blogging) low.

I hope I will be able to post more than once a week to keep the schedule up, however, it's only a hobby for both of us and that means, it always should be fun, not pressure.